Life Issues Forum

Death Penalty

Consistency in the abhorrence of violence is the hallmark of the Church's teaching on the death penalty. In the Culture of Life and the Death Penalty the U.S. Bishops also point to the fact that state-sanctioned killing diminishes us all, the application of capital punishment is flawed and inconsistent, and that the state has other ways of punishing criminals.

Rev. Michael Carson, Pastor of Queen of Apostles Church in the Diocese of San Jose and member of the State Board of California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty, recently interviewed Jeanne Woodford, executive director of Death Penalty Focus (DPF). DPF is the largest organization working to abolish the death penalty in California.

By Bishop Cirilo Flores, coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of San Diego. Reposted from U.T. San Diego.

This year, in the Easter season, San Diego reels from two recent murders – a young Iraqi mother of five and a 14-year-old boy visiting friends with his brother. Our community comes together in grief and to comfort the families who have lost loved ones. We recognize their profound pain.

A Reflection Piece and Study Guide
Statement of the California Catholic Conference of Bishops
July 1999

Introduction

Having adopted the U. S. Bishops' statement, The Good Friday Appeal to End the Death Penalty, we wish to put forth this document for pastors, preachers, and teachers to be used in preparation to disseminate the Church's teaching on the death penalty.